Hide-n-Seek and other childish games

Nay, the same Solomon the king, although he excelled in the glory of treasure and magnificent buildings, of shipping and navigation, of service and attendance, of fame and renown, and the like, yet he maketh no claim to any of those glories, but only to the glory of inquisition of truth; for so he saith expressly, “The glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the glory of the king is to find it out;" as if according to the innocent play of children, the Divine Majesty took delight to hide his works, to the end to have them found out, and as if kings could not obtain a greater honour than to be God’s play-fellows in that game.

Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning (1603)


I’m about 200 pages into reading a 700 page book by Daniel Boorstin called The Discovers. As the title partially reveals, it’s a compendium of ‘firsts’. Being such a large and daunting work to read let alone publish, you can only imagine how captivating a book it is that I’m nearly half done (ok, just over a quarter) and not wanting it to end.

I like his writing style and his approach seems to be compassionate, yet truthful, towards Judeo-Christian thinking. He first set the stage on the discovery of the clock. (Which, in a weird way reminded me of Watson’s quote about how he felt that there would never be a need for a household to own a PC) The clock is something which we can’t even imagine there being a time without. That is to say I can’t even think about thinking about being clockless. I have no reference point. I know what it was like to be single because I was once single. Also, I’m not old but I know old people and I can at least put myself in their shoes. But being separate from knowing what time it is or time specific appointments, I’m clueless.

Next Boorstin writes about the invention of the clock in relation to navigation. This section in particular interests me. He reveals the discovery of latitude and how that logically lead to Columbus’ voyage (which the author comments against being everything but heroic or daunting). He also parenthetically served justice to one of my longest unanswered questions in a chapter called ‘The Prison of Christian Dogma’.

Because of the Medieval Church after the takeover of Rome, the work of the Greeks was pridefully ignored. Needing biblical warrant and actual passages the church basically started from scratch in the 4th century. The study of geography did not fit into the then current learning programs, ex. the seven liberal arts, quadrivium, trivium, or linguistic disciplines. The author states, “For a thousand years of the Middle Ages no common synonym for “geography” was in ordinary usage, and the word did not enter the English language until the mid-sixteenth century.” (pg 100 emphasis mine) With Jerusalem being the center of the earth (umbilicus terrae) as per an anemic literal translation of Eze 5:5, all cartographers who wished to stay within the graces of the Church (and stay with the living) would comply with stated beliefs. All in all, Boorstin does an excellent job of unearthing the issues and politics behind flat vs spherical earth.
Ptolemy (A.D. 90-168) had calculations to prove a spherical earth and so did Erastosthenes (276?-195 B.C.?) along with many others.

Summarily, Boorstin tries to convey that the largest blockade to discoveries is an ‘illusion of knowledge’. Believing the earth to be flat is a classic example. If only the church was smart enough to use the sweat equity of Greek geeks, who knows where we’d be (maybe Mars, John). In reference to the first quote, I wonder if we Christians what to play our own game and make our own rules (even more so that heathens)?